Naruto: Psyche
by Shining Pheonix
Summary: It all started with a pin. When Naruto found the pin inside the Scroll of Sealing, his mind was opened to a whole new world. With a new team, and new powers, Naruto has more to worry about than just a fox in his head. Namely, everyone else! Naruto/TWEWY
1. Finding the Pin

**Naruto: Psyche**

In the village of Konohagakure-no-sato, it was no secret that Uzumaki Naruto was an avid fan of graffiti artwork. That said, it was no surprise when the mountain sized monument to the Hokages past and present turned up covered in said art. While not surprised, the villagers were, in a word, pissed.

"Uzumaki Naruto, get back here!"

"Catch me if you can!"

Naruto ran through the village, spray cans in tow, trailed by several ninja bound and determined to catch the young artist. Naruto led his pursuers through the market district, jumping through stands and over crowds who barely had a chance to recognize the fact that they _had_ just been run through. After taking a hard turn down an alley, Naruto's pursuers lost sight of their quarry, but seeing as he had no other direction in which to go, they continued their course. After the three ninja had left the alley, a section of the fence turned to fabric and collapsed, revealing Naruto holding said fabric.

"Heh, and they call themselves 'ninja'?" Naruto asked, smirking.

"You really do have to wonder, don't you?" a voice right next to Naruto's ear.

Naruto jumped. He turned to the source of the voice, a young man with a scar across his nose, wearing a standard issue Konoha Chuunin jumpsuit and vest. "Iruka-sensei! Where did you come from?"

Iruka looked down at the pre-teen, suddenly glowering. "Why aren't you in class?"

Naruto gulped.

--Classroom—

"Now that we have everyone here, let's begin our pop quiz." Iruka declared, looking over his class.

"Great job, Naruto. You pull stupid stunts like this and we all pay for it." A young man with brown pineapple shaped hair wearing a grey vest jacket over a mesh shirt declared.

"Shikamaru's right, Naruto. You keep doing stupid stuff like this and you'll never see the rank of Genin." A blonde girl wearing a two-piece purple dress declared.

"Well, Ino, since you seem so spunky why don't you go first." Iruka declared. "Please step to the front of the class and _henge_ into Hokage-sama."

Ino sighed and stood up. After walking to the front of the class she folded her hands into the tiger seal. "_Henge_." She called out. Her body was obscured by a plume of smoke which quickly dispersed, revealing in her place a perfect copy of the Sandaime Hokage.

"Very good, Ino. Naruto, you're next." Iruka said, noting down a grade in his handbook.

Ino released the jutsu and walked back to her seat as Naruto walked down to the front.

"Same thing, Naruto, just _henge_ into Hokage-sama." Iruka said.

Naruto huffed, but formed the tiger seal none the less. "_Henge._"

Like Ino, Naruto was obscured by a cloud of smoke. When it cleared, however, a perfect copy of Sandaime Hokage did not appear. The elderly leader's face and height were correct, but the large coat, by tradition white, was the same bright orange that graced Naruto's jumpsuit, and the three cornered hat, normally bearing the kanji for 'fire', now bored the symbol for 'fox'.

Iruka stared at 'Sandaime', 'Sandaime' stared at Iruka. Both blinked.

"Naruto…" Iruka started. 'Sandaime' looked on in anticipation. "It needs work." Iruka finally concluded, noting Naruto's grade down in his handbook.

Naruto sighed as he walked back to his seat. _At least it wasn't an outright fail._ He thought.

"Ha, always the dead last." A pink-haired girl mocked as Naruto walked past. Naruto felt stung at the comment but made no response.

"So says the girl that can't hold a _henge_ for more than five minutes." Ino mocked the pink head.

Naruto looked back at the other blonde in surprise. _Why is she doing this?_

Before anymore insults could be thrown, Iruka called the next student to the floor.

Two hours passed before the class ended.

Despite Sakura's prediction, Naruto wasn't the dead last in the 'pop quiz', he actually placed solidly in the middle of the class. However, the psychological damage had already been done, and as the students shuffled out of the building into the training yard, either to wait for parents or to head home on their own, Naruto was feeling down. As he sat down on the swing, his head was buzzing with different emotions, most dark, but one thought, different from the others, floated to the surface again. _Why did Ino do that?_

Naruto could think of some possible explanations, such as the fact that Ino and Sakura are rivals after the same boy, so Ino's jibe was meant to belittle Sakura and her supposed defense of Naruto was simply an unintentional byproduct. There was also the possibility that Ino was attempting to goad Sakura into doing better by comparing her to the supposed 'last in class' Naruto, and that no defense of him was meant or should be inferred. But the more he thought of these explanations, the more confused he became. Neither fit perfectly, and the more he thought about Ino and Sakura's argument, the more he was forced to review his own class performance. It was far from stellar, he was forced to admit. He should pay more attention in class, but it hadn't made much difference before. When he did, the instructors seemed to demand that he get everything perfect, if even one thing was out of place they failed him outright. Every time before, it had been all or nothing. It wasn't until he joined Iruka-sensei's class that he began to get intermediary grades. While this increased his grade point average, it also gave him freedom to slack off. And the more he slacked off, the worse his grades slipped.

Naruto felt himself spiraling again, into that big dark hole in the middle of his soul. He took a deep breath and pulled the headphones out of his belt pouch. A coffee shop owner had given them to him one day after he helped the man close up the shop for pocket money. Whenever he felt himself spiraling into that dark hole, the music helped pull him out. It also helped him distance himself from the villagers, many of whom displayed no small amount of open contempt for him. Thinking about the villagers brought his thoughts back to Iruka-sensei, one of the few people who truly cared about him. _If for no one else, I should study harder._ Naruto thought, swinging slightly.

As Naruto considered leaving, one of the Academy instructors walked up to him. Naruto recognized him as being one of the temporary teachers, the ones who did more office work than instruction, named Mizuki. "Hello, Naruto." The man said as he walked up beside the young blonde.

"Do you need me for something?" Naruto asked, reducing the volume on his headphones so he could converse without having to lip-read.

"Actually," Mizuki started. "I'm here to help you out a little."

This caught Naruto's interest, to the point he actually took the headphones off.

"You see, Iruka-sensei told me that you've been falling behind in your studies a little, and thought that I might be able to provide you with a challenge that could get you some actual practice as well as some advanced study material." The man continued.

"What do I need to do to get this 'advanced study material'?" Naruto asked.

"It's simple." Mizuki explained. "There's a scroll in the Hokage's office that has been placed there for this little test. You will know it because it's on a pedestal. All you need to do is sneak into the office and get back out with the scroll. The scroll has some jutsu listed in it. All you need to do to complete this test is to master one of the jutsu listed in the scroll and demonstrate that you've mastered it to Iruka-sensei. And the key to this test, is to not get caught."

--Outside the Hokage's office—

Naruto looked up at the building towards the window that he knew led directly to the old leader's library. According to Mizuki, the way he got in and out didn't matter, so long as he did it without getting caught. His initial thought had been to simply walk in the front door, as the staff of the building had standing orders that he could see the elderly leader any time he wished as long as sad leader wasn't already engaged in a meeting. Naruto had quickly dismissed this idea because Mizuki had made it a point to say that the key to this little test was 'to not get caught'. Naruto was almost at a complete loss until he noticed something in the tree beside the building, squirrels. Specifically, the fact that they were able to easily scale the vertical tree trunk without any special equipment. Naruto smirked, he could kill two birds with one stone with this, practicing his _henge_ jutsu while achieving his current goal.

Forming the tiger seal he quietly mouthed the word. "_Henge._" After the smoke cleared, an orange-red squirrel stood in Naruto's place. Moving quickly, Naruto the squirrel started climbing the tall office building. After squeezing under the partially opened study window, Naruto released his transformation and looked around the room. He saw many scrolls in the room, but couldn't immediately identify a pedestal. After walking into the room a bit further, he saw what he was looking for. Tucked between two bookcases was a pedestal with a massive scroll resting on top. Naruto quickly retrieved the scroll from the pedestal and considered his ways out. Deciding it was simpler to leave the same way he got in, Naruto transformed back into a squirrel, the scroll becoming a nut with him. Squeezing his way back under the cracked window, Naruto the squirrel quickly made his way into the forest to a place that he knew he wouldn't be disturbed for a while.

As Naruto disappeared under the window, Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage, walked into the room. The very first thing to greet his eyes was the lack of one very important scroll. He didn't know why at the time, but his very first thought at the sight was simply, _Naruto, what have you done?_

--Later—

"This goes beyond some simple graffiti, Hokage-sama, the little brat has to be stopped!"

"He's gone out of control, just let us end his reign of terror!"

Sarutobi raised his hand to silent the shouts. "Enough! This isn't the first scroll that Naruto's borrowed from me, I suspect that he doesn't even know what he has. Find him and the scroll and bring them both back to me **unharmed**! Am I clear?"

The gathered shinobi all straightened and replied in unison. "Hai, Hokage-sama!"

Sarutobi raised his arm again, this time in a signal for those gathered to begin their search. Iruka was among them.

_If he borrowed the scroll thinking that it was simply a scroll with some techniques to study, he would go to someplace that he knew he wouldn't be disturbed. He wouldn't go back to his apartment, too many people show up there unannounced. The only place I can think of that he would possibly go to is…_

--With Naruto—

…_The Tag Shack._

Naruto sat the scroll down beside him as he stared at the side of the shack. No one really knew who had built this place, or why, but everyone knew that it wasn't a place to be at night, which meant that no one would come looking for Naruto there.

The shack was one of his favorite places, the place where he had learned to appreciate graffiti as an art. The entire building, all four walls and roof, was covered in graffiti. Some thought that the art was from some very bored Chuunin, others believed it was done by a famous artist who had grown bored with his normal mediums. All Naruto knew was that it was both an incredible work of art and one of the few places he could really be alone.

Sitting down, he unrolled the scroll to start looking over the techniques to see which one he should master to show Iruka-sensei. He hadn't unrolled the scroll very far before a small envelope fell from the rolled parchment into his lap. Picking the envelope up, a pin fell out of the opened container into his hand, depicting a white stylized skull on a black background.

_What's something like this doing in a ninjutsu scroll?_ Naruto thought, bouncing the pin in his hand. Immediately after the pin landed, Naruto started blinking. The world felt _different_ somehow. As if he could hear more than he could before. Different or not, however, Naruto still needed to master at least one ninjutsu on the scroll to pass Iruka-sensei's test. Quickly scanning the first few jutsu listed on the scroll, one caught his eye. _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, huh, this looks promising._

His jutsu decided, Naruto got to work.

--Three Hours Later--

Iruka found the Tag Shack with little difficulty. He had been several times as a child, it was here that the Yondaime Hokage had brought him shortly after his parents died, just before the man's own death.

The young Chuunin shook these thoughts of the past out of his head as he walked up to Naruto, who appeared to have fallen asleep next to the shack. Iruka shook Naruto's shoulder to wake him. "What do you think you're doing out here?"

Naruto blinked as he came back to full awareness. "Uh, Iruka-sensei? Guess you found me. Sorry, but I only mastered one technique to show you."

Iruka blinked. _Only mastered one technique? What is he talking about?_

"Don't you remember, Iruka-sensei? You sent Mizuki-san to me with an additional assignment to get the scroll and learn a technique off of it." Naruto answered Iruka's unspoken question.

Iruka blinked again. _Mizuki told him this? What was he thinking? What was he hoping to gain?_

Naruto looked at his sensei oddly as he got up into a sitting position. "Iruka-sensei, you probably shouldn't think out loud like that."

It was Iruka's turn to look at Naruto strangely. "What are you –"

Iruka never got to complete his question, as just as he was speaking he could hear an odd whistling in the air. Before Naruto could say anything, Iruka shoved him to one side as multiple kunai whistled through the air and buried themselves in the side of the shack.

_Too bad, I had hoped to end this quickly too._

Naruto blinked again, both at the knives just thrown his way and the voice in his head that sounded like Mizuki-san.

"Humph, it's too bad for you that you found the little bastard first, guess that means I just have to kill you too."

Naruto looked up in the trees where the kunai had come from too find none other than Mizuki, wielding two massive shuriken and multiple smaller weapons pouches.

Iruka glared at Mizuki as he pulled a kunai from the ground next to him. _I can't let him get Naruto or the scroll._ "Naruto, take the scroll and run!"

"Don't you want to know, Naruto? Don't you want to know why everyone hates you?" Mizuki taunted. _I can't let the brat run, it was a pain just to track him down the first time._

Naruto blinked as he grabbed the scroll and started crawling backwards into the shack, as if trying to draw strength from the graffiti he loved painted on its walls. "What are you talking about?"

Iruka's eyes widened in fear. _He wouldn't dare!_ "Don't listen to him Naruto! Just run!"

_Just for interfering, you idiot, I'll make sure that even if the two of you survive he'll never trust you again!_ "Don't you know, eleven years ago, what happened to this village? That the Yondaime defeated the Kyuubi? But that's not the whole story, because even he couldn't outright kill the Kyuubi. Do you know what he did?"

Iruka got to his feet, screaming. "Don't say it Mizuki!"

Mizuki smirked, an evil glint in his eye. "He sealed the fox. He sealed it into a newborn child. Do you know what child he sealed it into?"

Naruto started shaking. He didn't know where this was going, but he knew, from Mizuki's other voice, that it wasn't going to end well. He didn't know why, but he shook his head in a clear indication of 'no'.

Mizuki's smirk widened as Iruka's eyes widened further in fear. _No, don't say it._

Mizuki drew to his full height while glaring down at Naruto. "You. He sealed the fox into you. In other words, YOU ARE THE KYUUBI! That's why everyone hates you! Because you took everyone's loved ones away! Even Iruka hates you, because you took away his parents! All those times he acted like he cared where just that, an act so that he could get closer to you to betray you!" _Not really, but the little bastard doesn't know that!_

Naruto gripped his head, both in pain and desperation. _Which is it? Does Iruka-sensei like me or hate me? Which?!_

Unable to take the stress of unanswered questions like these, Naruto finally grabbed the scroll and ran.

_Mizuki, you lying __**bastard!**__ Even if you live for this, you'll be executed for treason! _Iruka gripped the kunai tighter. "You asshole, Mizuki."

Mizuki laughed at his former comrade's obvious distress. "What, did you honestly think that I would let either of you live? Don't worry, I'll be back to deal with you as soon as I'm done with the brat!" With that parting shot, Mizuki leapt after Naruto.

Iruka cursed under his breath and gave chase.

Naruto ran through the trees as fast as he could, tears staining his face. As he ran, Iruka ran up beside him. "Naruto, Mizuki isn't nearby. Pass me the scroll!"

At that moment, Naruto turned and punched Iruka square in the face. As Iruka fell to the forest floor, he was momentarily obscured by smoke, only to be replaced by Mizuki. "How did you know I wasn't Iruka?" he asked, wiping some blood from his busted nose.

"Because _I'm_ Iruka."

Naruto also disappeared in a plume of smoke only to reveal Iruka holding a log. "If you thought I would let you get away with what you've done to Naruto, your sorely mistaken."

Mizuki stood back up, pulling one of his giant shuriken into battle position. "What do you care about the brat? After all, he is the fucking fox, he killed your parents for crying out loud! He doesn't even care about you or this village. Once he gets back to the village, he'll just use the jutsu in that scroll to destroy everyone!"

Unbeknownst to either Iruka or Mizuki, Naruto was hidden just several yards away behind a tree listening to every word that the pair of Chuunin exchanged.

Iruka readied a blade of his own. "You know, you're right."

At those words, Naruto stiffened. _He really does…_

However, Iruka wasn't finished. "That is, _if_ he was the Kyuubi."

Naruto's eyes brightened. _He really does care!_

Iruka still wasn't done. "Naruto isn't the fox, he's a human being, a ninja in training of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and one of my students! Your manipulation ends here, Mizuki!"

With that declaration, Iruka charged at Mizuki with a kunai in either hand. Mizuki, rather than wait and be skewered, let his massive shuriken fly, forcing Iruka to duck in order to preserve his head. While the scarred Chuunin was off-balance, Mizuki drew and threw two handfuls of standard sized shuriken. Iruka managed to dodge some of the flying missiles, but not all, those making contact drawing blood from his torso and arms. Unable to keep his balance from the damage, Iruka fell on his back.

Mizuki, taking full advantage of his downed opponent, drew his second giant shuriken and charged.

Before Mizuki could land his blow, he was knocked backwards by a blow to the stomach. _What the hell?_

"_You will not touch Iruka-sensei._"

Mizuki looked up from his new position on the ground. Naruto stood between him and Iruka, the scroll sat beside him. It may have just been a trick of the light, but somehow Naruto looked, menacing. Undeterred, Mizuki got back to his feet.

"You really think that you can stop me? Fat chance. I can kill a little punk like you with one shot." Mizuki boasted, readying his shuriken yet again. _Just what can a little brat like him have as a special technique, anyway?_

"Since you asked, I'll show you! I was saving this to show Iruka-sensei, but I think you could use the ass-kicking more!" Naruto shouted.

Mizuki stopped for a fraction of a second. _Since I asked? What did he mean?_

Naruto formed a single hand sign. "This is what I mean! _Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!_"

As Mizuki watched, hundreds, no, _thousands_ of Naruto's appeared throughout the clearing.

As one, all the Naruto's called out. "What's the matter, I thought you were going to kill me in one shot? Since you're not coming to me, I'm coming to _you_!"

The beating was fairly straightforward after that.

After Mizuki was 'neutralized', Iruka called Naruto over.

"I'm in trouble, aren't I" Naruto stated simply.

"No," Iruka replied. "I'm actually impressed. You mastered a Jonin-level ninjutsu and defeated a Chuunin in actual combat. Sandaime-sama isn't even that upset with you for taking the scroll, all he wants is you and it back." Iruka replied. _Not to mention the fact that this is easily worth a passing grade in class._

Naruto brightened. "You mean it, sensei? This jutsu is really enough to pass?"

Iruka's eyes widened in surprise yet again, but he covered it well. "Naruto, let's go back to the Hokage. As for passing, I'll definitely consider it."

--Hokage's Tower—

After the scroll had been returned, the ninja had been recalled, and the ANBU had arrested Mizuki (or the bloody pulp that called itself Mizuki), Sarutobi finally got a chance to talk to Naruto privately.

"So, what jutsu did you learn from the scroll?" the elderly leader asked.

Naruto beamed. "_Kage Bunshin_, Iruka-sensei said that it's a jonin level technique, but it wasn't all that hard to learn."

Sarutobi nodded, unsurprised. The 'Art of the Shadow Doppelganger' was a costly technique that split the user's chakra evenly amongst the clones. Under normal circumstances, the amount of energy required to use the technique made it suicidal for anyone under the rank of jonin to even consider using it. However, most people didn't have Naruto's near-bottomless well of chakra.

"Did you find anything else in the scroll of interest?" the old man asked, puffing on his pipe.

"Yeah, I found this weird pin in an envelope just inside the thing." Naruto responded, fishing said pin from his pocket.

Sarutobi nearly choked on his pipe. He hadn't seen that pin in _years_. In fact, the last time he had seen it had been just before he came out of retirement, when the original owner of the pin had placed it in the envelope that Naruto had found it in.

"When you touched the pin, Naruto, did anything, odd, happen?" Sarutobi asked hesitantly.

Naruto considered the question. "Yeah, when I flipped the thing, it was like something around my mind disappeared, and I could hear more than I used to."

Sarutobi sighed, he had been afraid of that. "Naruto, you're not hearing anything. What you're hearing are other people's minds, their thoughts and emotions."

Naruto's eyes widened a little. "So, you mean that everything I thought Iruka-sensei and Mizuki-teme were saying was really?"

Sarutobi nodded. "That's correct, those were what they were thinking."

Naruto looked quizzically at the old man. "Why can't I hear you, though?"

Sarutobi smirked. "That's because your simply too weak right now. Your mind is just like any other muscle, it needs to be exercised. For the moment, your too weak to read, or rather 'scan', any thoughts but the most unguarded of ideas and emotions. In time, you'll likely be able to scan any mind you wish. In the meantime, you'll likely want some way to start keeping thoughts out of your head."

"Why would I want to do that?" Naruto asked.

Sarutobi smiled again. "There are some things that you may not want to know, and people are entitled to the privacy of their own minds. Not to mention, I've seen people go mad from abilities similar to yours who took no precautions to defend their own minds from the tidal wave of information."

Naruto took the advice in stride. "So, what do you recommend?"

Sarutobi's smile widened. "For that, there's someone I'd like you to meet."

--Konoha Market District—

"You want me to meet a coffee store owner?" Naruto asked, a bit incredulous.

"This coffee store owner is a bit different from most." Was Sarutobi's answer.

Naruto shrugged, deciding that the old man had yet to steer him wrong, so he walked in the door.

"Hey boss, what can I get you tonight?"

Naruto stopped dead in his tracks. It was the same shop owner that had given him his headphones! As he tried to get his mouth working again, Sarutobi walked in the door and placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder. "Hello, Sanae."

Sanae Hanekoma smiled at the elderly leader. "It's been a while, Sarutobi! Here for your regular?"

"Not tonight, Sanae, I'm actually here for your other skill."

Hanekoma frowned a little. "So, who's the unlucky soul?"

Naruto, feeling a little awkward, stepped forward. "I was wondering, if you knew how to keep people's thoughts out of my head?"

Hanekoma looked Naruto over. "Actually, boss, you've already got my best move in that department."

Sarutobi frowned. "What do you mean, Sanae?"

Hanekoma smiled again, tapping Naruto's belt pouch. "Music. It helps keep you focused on you, and not on other people's thoughts. It won't stop scanning, nothing really can, but it will help, but I'd avoid crowds for a few days until you get more used to scanning."

At this point, Sarutobi paled, and Naruto got the first true thought from the old man. Naruto, in Academy tomorrow, with all those people? Almighty, if ever there was a time that I needed a favor…

--Next Day, Iruka's Classroom—

_I wonder what Sasuke-kun thinks of my hair?_

_Phew, who forgot to shower last night?_

_I hope I'm ready for the graduation exams, Mom's really expecting a lot._

_Why the hell do all these people have to make so much kami-damned noise?_

Naruto sat in his normal seat near the back of the classroom, trying with all his might not to bolt for the door. He had long since maxed out the volume output on his headphones and the voices in his head simply kept droning on. Hanekoma-san was correct, the headphones were helping (He had tried walking into the room without them on), but the sheer amount of noise in his head was deafening. To make matters worse for him, the Academy Graduation Exams were to be held today. This would make his third attempt at them, his first two attempts being thwarted both by what he now recognized to be sabotage, as well as the former bane of his ninja existence, the Bunshin-no-jutsu. Not like I'll have to worry about that one ever again.

As Naruto attempted to contemplate his ninja career through the mental noise, Iruka walked into the room. As the sensei walked to the front, Naruto noted what he considered an odd phenomenon, as almost all of the students thoughts suddenly focused on the Chuunin.

_I wonder how he gets his hair to stay like that, it's like it never comes down?_

_Hope he doesn't begin the exams immediately, I need a chance to review Kawarimi._

_This guy is useless to me, he never showed a single thing in class that I didn't already know._

Naruto's eyes flashed angrily in the direction of this last thought; after all, Iruka did save his hide last night. To his complete surprise, however, the origin of the thought was none other than the class's supposed 'genius', Sasuke.

Iruka cleared his through to grab the attention of the few remaining students otherwise occupied, then began to speak. "Well, the time has come for the graduation exams. I hope each of you studied hard, because this is your shot into a true ninja career. Now, as I call you down, please proceed into the exam room with the proctor who will test you on the basics of ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. First up, Aburame Shino."

As Shino walked into the back room, Naruto could feel the overall vibe in the room literally change from chaos to one of excitement and fear. The feeling was overwhelming. Having no choice but to ride out the thoughts and emotions, Naruto again attempted to raise the volume before turning to his scattered notes. _Might as well try to review._

After what felt like an eternity, only Naruto and Ino were left in the classroom.

"Uzumaki Naruto, please step back into the test room." Iruka called.

Naruto complied, not exactly happy to leave the now relatively mentally calm room. As he passed Iruka, he received one thought that was intentionally directed at him. Good luck.

Naruto entered the exam room. There were two proctors, Chuunin that he had seen before in the Hokage's office but didn't know by name, one sitting behind a long table that had both test results and two Leaf headbands remaining. One of the first things that Naruto noticed was that he couldn't hear either of these men, something he was grateful for.

"Alright, kid, let's start with the taijutsu test. You just have to last for five minutes in the circle on the floor, obviously better points for a better performance in the fight. Ready?"

Naruto looked at the circle, then at the Chuunin he was going to fight. The circle was the same size as the one the students had been practicing in all year, and the man was roughly the same size as Mizuki-teme. "Yeah, I'm ready." He answered, his headphones already returned to his belt pouch.

The fight was relatively straightforward, with only the basics of hand to hand combat being used. Naruto held his own for the first three minutes, exchanging light blows with the larger instructor. After those three minutes, however, he noticed something; he could see the instructor throwing the punches in his mind before he actually threw them. The proctor's mental defenses were down! Taking full advantage of this, Naruto moved left to dodge a medium kick, then dropped to his knees to avoid the follow up sweep kick. Being a bit of an opportunist, and already in the perfect position, Naruto used a simple ground-level sweep kick to knock the proctor on his back. Before the proctor's mental walls came back up, Naruto caught a piece of a thought. How in the world did he…?

Naruto stood back up. "So, is that a pass?" he asked, extending his hand to the proctor to help him back up.

The man looked back up at the orange clad student, surprise registering for a moment before he reached up to take Naruto's hand. The moment that the proctors hand made contact with the blonde's, both had to bite back screams. Naruto could feel the man's mind right next to his, with no filters or sympathy. All of the man's senses, thoughts, and emotions were bare before him, as well as his own. The proctor quickly released Naruto's hand, having been jerked into a sitting position by the shock. The second proctor, seeing the distress of both combatants, rushed over. "What just happened? Are you guys okay?"

The first proctor pushed himself up. "I'm okay, I think. You still with me, kid?"

Naruto blinked, for a moment he had been trying to remember how to breath. "I, I think so."

The first proctor, regaining his composure, stood back up and started back to the exam. "Alright, disregarding whatever that was, I think we can call that performance a pass. We should move on to the genjutsu portion now."

Both Naruto and the second proctor nodded in agreement, returning to their original positions.

"Okay, this part is in two portions, first you have to break a genjutsu, then you need to demonstrate your skill with the academy level jutsu, henge. Are you ready?"

Naruto nodded, his breath still coming in uneven bursts. The proctor formed several hand seals and whispered his technique so that Naruto couldn't hear the name. the world around the blonde faded to black, he couldn't see, hear, smell, touch, or taste anything around himself. He began to panic. How am I supposed to break out of this? I can't even see or feel my own hands to make the release seals!

As fast as his panic came, however, it subsided with a single realization. I can still feel their minds!

Even though he couldn't hear the thoughts of the proctors, he could still feel that they were there, and some of their identity bled through. This small realization, this one feeling, was enough to bring Naruto's own mind into focus, and while his external senses were still muted, he regained his sense of self-location. His hands set in the tiger seal, he did not shout, but did the iron resolve in his voice was clear as he invoked the release jutsu._ "__Kai_."

The darkness shattered, and all of Naruto's senses came back in full force. The proctor looked rather impressed. "Good, now that that's done, let's see your skill with henge. Change into whatever you want, as long as it's recognizable."

Naruto stopped for a moment. Usually, the teachers chose what they wanted the student to transform into, so he had to think for a moment what he wished to change into. A moment passed, then he smirked. _No one really knows how I got in last night_. His hands formed the appropriate seals. "Henge." Naruto's squirrel form appeared from the smoke.

Again, the proctor nodded his approval. "Interesting choice. Alright, the final part, perform the doppelganger technique."

Naruto, after returning to his human form, just smirked at the proctor. "I've got something better than that!" His hands formed into his newly-acquired hand seal._ "__Kage-Bunshin no jutsu!__"_

Four copies appeared behind the original Naruto, all holding the same seal. Both proctors had to pick their bottom jaws up from the floor. One even stepped up to the copies and poked one in the forehead. "I don't believe it, he can actually perform a jonin level technique." He stated, mildly dazed. The proctor at the table stared for a moment, then called Naruto over to the table. "I do believe you've earned this." He said, handing Naruto a headband.

Naruto looked at the headband, holding it gently. "I, I really passed?"

The proctor nodded. "You really passed. Be back here two days from now for team assignments and genin orientation. And, congratdulations!"

Naruto's face went from amazement, to surprise, to pure joy, with a smile that nearly broke his face in half. "YATTA! I FINALLY PASSED!" With that, he left the academy to celebrate his passage.

--That Night, Hokage's Office--

Anko slammed her hands on the table. "Really, you call these 'balanced' teams? I've seen drunks with better balance than these."

Sarutobi calmly looked at the snake jonin. "The academy instructors worked for two days to construct this list, Anko. They designed these teams for maximum balance between the students' skills."

Anko smacked the table again. "That's the problem right there. 'Skill' balance, not 'Psychological' balance. If you let these teams go as is more than one will have an attempted homicide within its own ranks before the year is out."

"Would you care to explain further?" Asuma spoke up, interested.

"Yes," Kakashi seconded. "I think we all would like to know what you've based these assumptions off of. I, for one, can't see anywhere near as bleak an outcome that you're so sure of."

"That, Scarecrow, is why _I'm_ a psychologist, and _you_ are not." Anko retorted. "Take a look at Team 7, you have Sasuke Uchiha, a very unbalanced kid with a severe inferiority complex, with Sakura Haruno, who has a very unhealthy obsession with same said Uchiha on top of a classic case of schizophrenia. Sadly, the _sanest_ member of this squad is Naruto Uzumaki, and even _he_ has issues, but he has, without a doubt, demonstrated the absolute most potential of this squad. The moment he starts gaining any strength at all, the Uchiha's little complex will flare up with a vengeance and little Miss Wallflower will not do a damn thing to stop him, hell, as unbalanced as she is she might even help the punk.

If Team 7 isn't enough for you, let's look at Team 10. You've got an undriven genius, sadly the sanest member of this team, with a glutton who is eating himself into an early grave, and a textbook narcissist. They might, keyword _might_, be able to work together long enough to make Chunin, but I wouldn't put any money on it.

Team 8 is another basket full of cases. The Hyuuga has such a bad inferiority complex that she's basically started to shut down. If she makes it through the year without at least one attempted suicide, I'll eat my coat. Top that with the Inuzuka's narcissistic mentality and need to assert his domination over others, I'd almost say that the Hyuuga girl's suicide would be the honorable way out. Finally, we have this class's only other truly sane member, the Aburame kid, who could easily be driven insane after having to deal with teammates like that."

"Obviously, you've taken the time to review each graduating student's file. So what is it that you suggest, a group therapy session for all of them before you even consider them fit to be Genin?" Kakashi asked with no small amount of sarcasm.

"What teams do you suggest, Anko?" Sarutobi asked before the snake mistress could make a biting comment in response to Kakashi's sarcasm.

Anko leaned back. "Well, since you asked, I suggest this: Uzumaki, Nara, and Yamanaka on Team 10; Uchiha, Inuzuka, and Haruno on Team 7; and Hyuuga, Akimichi, and Aburame on Team 8. Nara and Uzumaki are natural balances to one another, and the two could easily handle Yamanaka when she gets out of line. Inuzuka and Uchiha are so naturally different that they wouldn't really give a damn about whose top dog, so to speak, and Haruno wouldn't exactly be an easy outlet for Inuzuka's testosterone levels. Finally, Akamichi and Aburame are calm and quiet by nature, an easy environment for a gifted teacher, *Cough* Nai-chan *Cough*, to get Hyuuga out of her little shell."

"You honestly believe that these so called teams will work?" Kakashi asked, unbelieving.

"I like it." Asuma stated. "For once, teams that I don't have to watch over my shoulder to make sure their working and not quietly trying to slip a knife into each other's ribs."

"I'm in agreement." Kurenai added. "We've focused on balanced _skills_ for so long, and watched the number of graduates plummet, it's a wonder that no one thought of this sooner."

"It is settled, then." Sarutobi stated, putting his pipe down. "I will inform Iruka of the changes tomorrow morning before the final session."

"Sir, I protest…" Kakashi began.

Sarutobi cut him off. "I know that you wanted both Sasuke and Naruto, but it simply isn't a feasible idea. I'm sorry Kakashi, but it isn't going to happen."

"But, sir, you're really just going to just take Anko's word on this? The Academy Instructors aren't stupid, and they had plenty of time to sort out any so-called issues before they submitted this list."

"Enough, Kakashi." Asuma cut the masked man off. "You know full well that the instructors built these lists based off of orders from the Council. They aren't worried about team stability, and you know it. Anko has been studying team psychology for ten years, longer than most of those guys have been teaching. The old man has approved the changes, just let it go."

Kakashi sent the chain smoking jonin a dirty look, but didn't say anything more.

"Well, since that's settled, I expect to hear from each of you which teams pass the final tests within the next forty-eight hours. Until then, you are all dismissed."

With that, each jonin left the office to prepare for the first meeting with their new teams.

**A/N: Okay, so I was in the process of re-writing ****The Chronicles**** when my muse finally sat me down at sword point and ordered me to write this. Several versions of this basic idea have been bouncing around in my head since I fully beat ****The World Ends With You****, and there has been an absolute lack of any true Naruto/TWEWY fanfics that I could actually find. I will continue this, and I will continue to work on the re-write, so reviews will be greatly appreciated. Once again, this is your one and only Shining Pheonix, back and still adding to my nest of flaming ashes.**

**Update 4/22/10: Finally got around to correcting some errors in the original upload, mostly incorect italicizing in odd locations, as well as a small plotline glitch, mostly just making the chapter easier to read.**


	2. Teams and Coffee

**Naruto: Psyche**

**Chapter 2: Teams and Coffee**

_Naruto's face went from amazement, to surprise, to pure joy, with a smile that nearly broke his face in half. "YATTA! I FINALLY PASSED!" With that, he left the academy to celebrate his passage._

"Hey, boss, here to celebrate?"

Naruto was still grinning ear to ear, even with his headphones playing overtime from the trip through the market district. "Yeah, I finally passed! It took me three years, but I'm finally a Genin!"

Hanekoma simply smirked, taking his customer's exuberance in stride. "Well, the first one's on the house, then." He turned to mix Naruto's coffee. "Want the donuts to go with?"

"Better believe it!" was Naruto's response.

While Hanekoma worked at filling his order, Naruto looked back at how he had joined the Academy. Even though he took three years to graduate (most students graduate in about two), he had joined the Academy four years early, a birthday gift from Sandaime. Even if his first two years had been rough, not necessarily his own fault, this year he had finally pulled through.

As he was making a mental note to thank the Old Man for that particular gift later on, Hanekoma sat his coffee and donuts down. "So, who's your partners?" The proprietor asked.

Naruto looked at Hanekoma oddly. "Partners?" he inquired.

Hanekoma smirked. "Yeah, your partners, you know, your team."

Naruto's eyes widened a little in understanding. "Oh! Well, we haven't exactly been split into teams yet." Naruto replied, picking up his first donut.

Hanekoma nodded in understanding. "Well, once you meet 'em, I'd like to meet 'em."

Naruto stopped mid-sip. "Why's that?"

The coffee man smirked again, an odd spark behind his eyes. "What, I can't meet the new friends of my new best customer?"

Naruto nodded, the explanation making sense. "Well, thanks for the coffee, but I probably should head home now. I got to get ready for tomorrow."

Naruto stood up to leave. As Hanekoma picked up Naruto's cup and money, he gave his patron a serious look. "Phones, before you go, I have something to tell you."

Naruto stopped and gave his attention to the coffee man.

Hanekoma continued. "It's a little piece of advice that an old friend told me, and I think you could use it more than I can. Always trust your partner."

Naruto paused. "What do you mean?"

Hanekoma smiled. "It's just a piece of advice, but I think tomorrow will clear it up a little for you."

With that, the coffee shop owner led Naruto to the door.

--Konoha Academy, Next Morning—

_Wonder who I'll get teamed up with, I hope it's Sasuke-kun!_

_Hope these stupid instructor's have teamed me up with someone who won't slow me down, I've got to get strong fast._

_Such a drag, who's brilliant idea was it to have team assignments so early in the morning?_

Naruto entered the expected noise of the classroom, this time a little more prepared than the last time. While he was expecting it, the mind noise was still grinding on him, not to mention his much-abused headphones. _Got to remember to get some more batteries for these._

As he took his seat, Naruto noticed that Iruka-sensei was already in the room, looking slightly disheveled but not necessarily from the fight the previous night. All Naruto was able to glean from his attempts to scan him was that the Old Man had decided on a last minute change to something, causing trouble with some to the other teachers.

As the last former student filed in the door, Iruka stood up to gain their attention. "Welcome back, everyone. This is the last time I will ever speak to you as students, because from now on we will be comrades-in-arms, fellow ninja of Konoha. At this last meeting, I will be issuing to each of you your team assignments. Each team is also assigned a Jonin instructor, who will continue to instruct you in the more advanced ninja arts."

At this speech, several thoughts and murmurs rang round the room.

_There's still more to learn? But I thought we were already fully-trained ninja!_

_Finally, I'll get someone who can actually teach me something useful!_

_So, we're going from some training to more training? I knew Dad was laughing for a reason when I told him I graduated._

As Naruto listened in on the thoughts around the room, Iruka had already started listing teams. It wasn't until Iruka reached Team 7 that Naruto's attention came back to the normally audible world.

"Team 7 will be headed by Hatake Kakashi and will consist of these genin: Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Inuzuka Kiba."

Immediately after this announcement, Naruto caught two thoughts, almost simultaneously.

_YES! I'M ON SASUKE-KUN'S TEAM! __**TRUE LOVE REALLY DOES CONQUER ALL**__! AND NO MORE ANNOYING NARUTO!_

_You've got to be kidding, I'm stuck on a team with a mutt and a bitch, I really don't know whether I should laugh or cry._

Blissfully ignorant of the thoughts in the room, Iruka continued his listing. "Team 8 will be headed by Yuuhi Kurenai and will consist of these genin: Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino, and Akamichi Choji."

Again, Naruto caught several thoughts from the room.

_I-I'm with Shino-kun and Choji-kun? I-I hope I won't let them down._

_So I'm with Hinata? To bad, I was hoping to get onto Shika and Ino's team like Dad's always talkin' about._

_So, I'm with Hinata-chan and Akamichi-san? I can only hope that there will not be interference from Hinata-chan's family._

At that last thought, Naruto had to pause. _Why would Hinata's family cause a problem with her team? Wouldn't they be happy that she's a genin?_

While Naruto was listening in on the thoughts in the room, Iruka had listed Team 9, so Naruto only came back to the verbal world when he started listing the next team.

"Team 10 will be headed by Sarutobi Asuma and will consist of these genin: Nara Shikamaru, Yananaka Ino, and Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto was again caught in thoughts, this time those of his new teammates.

_I'm with Shika and Naruto? Could be worse, after all Shika and I can get along, and Naruto isn't that bad when he's not doing something crazy._

_So, I've got the two loudest blondes to ever graduate from the Academy on my team? You don't know just how much you lucked out, Choji. Then again, I could have been on the prick's team, and Naruto's started to calm down after whatever it was that happened just before the exams, so it shouldn't be too bad._

Naruto didn't really know what to think of his new teammates, Shikamaru had never been overtly mean to him without cause, and Ino was part of the 'Sasuke Fan Club' and was well-known in class to be bossy, but she had gone out of her way to be nice to him before, so they both came out even on his personal score-card. _Well, I should at least try to get to know them before I make any judgments._

Iruka continued. "Now that all of you have your team assignments, we can break for lunch. Your new squad leaders should all arrive in roughly an hour, so take the time to get to know your teammates." _Good luck to all of you, and may Kami watch over you._

With that parting thought, Iruka dismissed his class for the last time as students.

--A Classroom, During Lunch—

Naruto found Shikamaru and Ino with little difficulty, as Ino had left the door to the room open and the pair were talking (at least he _thought_ they were talking) about their new assignment.

As he walked in the door, he made a knocking motion against the doorframe. "Am I late to the party?"

Ino turned from the conversation. "There you are. We were just talking about the team, you know, our new sensei."

Naruto nodded his understanding. "Sarutobi Asuma. I can't say that I know him."

Shikamaru turned toward the window. _Not surprised, that guy likes to keep a low profile._

Naruto turned to Shikamaru. "So, you already know him?"

Shikamaru turned to face the headphones-wearer. "Pardon?"

"Asuma-sensei, you said something about him keeping a low profile."

"I didn…"

As Shikamaru started, he noticed something, the subtle hiss of heavy metal pumping out from under Naruto's headphones. _He can't hear a thing under those! How could he even hold a conversation with those… No, that's it!_

Shikamaru paused. _Can you hear me, Naruto?_

Naruto gave Shikamaru an odd look. "Of course I can hear you, I'm talking to you."

It was Ino's turn to give Naruto an odd look. "Um, Naruto, Shikamaru didn't say anything."

Before Naruto could respond, Shikamaru spoke up. "Yes, I did, just not verbally."

Ino looked confused. "What do you mean, Shika?"

In response, Shikamaru turned back to Naruto. "You can't hear a damn thing under those headphones, can you?"

Naruto still looked confused. "What do you mean? I can hear you just fine."

Shikamaru shook his head. "No, what you think your hearing is our thoughts. Like I said, you can't really hear a thing with those things turned up that loud."

Ino looked mortified. "Are you saying that Naruto can read our minds?!"

Naruto suddenly found the floor very interesting. "Sort of. I can hear whatever someone is actively thinking."

Ino relaxed. "So, you can't just break into someone's head and rip their memories or anything?"

Naruto shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of, unless your actively thinking about a memory, I can't hear or see it."

Shikamaru looked at Naruto for a moment. "About two nights ago, that's when you got this power, right?"

Both Ino and Naruto looked at Shikamaru. "What makes you say that?" Naruto asked.

"Because that's when you first showed up to class with those things on. I wasn't paying very much attention to it at the time, but you also had this really odd pained expression on your face the whole time, like there was too much noise in the room, even when nobody was talking."

Ino just shook her head. "Okay, now that we've established that Naruto is a freak, what do you know about sensei."

Shikamaru shrugged. "Can't say that I know a whole lot. Guy's a good shoji player, an evil poker player, and is smoking his way into an early grave."

Ino simply stared, while Naruto shook his head. "So, you've met him before. Where at?"

Again Shikamaru shrugged. "Monthly shoji tournament at my parent's game store."

"Well, now that you guy's have come to an understanding, why don't you meet me up on the roof."

All three newly minted genin nearly jumped out of their skin. Asuma smirked. _No matter how many years pass, that just never gets old._

**A/N: Thank you everyone who noticed the italics switch in the last chapter. I can't say what caused it, but I will be on the lookout for it in the future. As always, reviews will be appreciated, flames will be piled on to my nest, and this is S.P., signing off for the night.**


	3. A Simple Assignment

**Chapter 3: A Simple Assignment**

The task they had been set was relatively simple. 'Obtain a photograph of Hatake Kakashi without his mask.' Really, how hard could it possibly be?

Naruto found the copy ninja without much difficulty, Asuma had told him that the man enjoyed adult reading material, so he simply followed the thoughts to the local adult bookstore. Kakashi was walking out just as Naruto approached.

"Pardon me, but is your name Hatake Kakashi?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi looked at the kid over his latest purchase. _Hmm, short, blonde hair, whisker marks. Wait, he's one of the new graduates, what's he doing here?_ "Hmmm, possibly, what do you want?"

Naruto held up a disposable camera. "Well, if you are, I just need a photo of you without your mask on. For some reason, my new sensei wants it."

Kakashi continued to look at Naruto over his book. _A sensei really made getting a photo of me a mission? Well, I'll have to give her points for originality._ "Sorry, kid, but I really don't feel like giving Kurenai any jack off material today."

Naruto really had to pause. Between the thoughts and images running through Kakashi's head, to the actual line he had just delivered, the poor genin was thoroughly confused. One thing, however was still perfectly clear to the new ninja, Kakashi had refused to cooperate under his own free will. Therefore, it was time to take action himself. Naruto began to turn away.

"Fair enough." Was his simple statement.

It was Kakashi's turn to pause, his visible eye blinking. "Really?"

"No."

In a flash, Naruto had jumped to Kakashi's face height, grabbed the mask with his free hand, and prepared his camera with the other. Kakashi had only a single second to react, but it was all he needed to grab Naruto's jacket and fling the rookie ninja across the alley. A quick glance in the mirrored window of the bookstore revealed the damage to his precious mask, a small tear that rendered his nose visible, but little else. Kakashi returned his gaze to Naruto.

"Okay, kid, you get points for originality and a better than average 'plan B', but you're not getting a photo of me."

Naruto picked himself up off the ground, stripping off his now ripped jacket._ Damnit, that was my only one!_ "Sorry, but you haven't even seen Plan B yet!"

As Naruto delivered his declaration, two shadow doppelgangers jumped out of the dumpster behind Kakashi and grabbed his arms, while the original again jumped forward to grab the mask. Kakashi again reacted without thinking, this time kicking the young rookie backwards before spinning to dislodge the two clones. _Okay, I can't tell if this kid is brilliant or just crazy. That almost worked! Time to get rid of this little runt before he actually get's lucky!_

Kakashi viewed his opponent with a serious light in his eye this time. Naruto took up a ready stance, the images the cyclopean jonin had in his head were not filling him with confidence. Even though he could see the man's move ahead of time, Naruto lacked the speed and coordination necessary to dodge a fully trained jonin's attack. In the space of a single breath, Kakashi slid behind Naruto with his hands in the 'tora' seal.

"**Konoha ninpo: sennin giroushi**!"

Naruto's scream was audible his entire flight into the river.

-Later that morning-

Kakashi walked steadily down the road, book in hand and replacement mask in place, the incident with the orange-wearing genin wannabe almost completely forgotten. As he passed the local food stands, he noticed a new dango vendor had opened. Deciding that dango sounded like a good idea at the moment, the cyclopean jonin stopped to order a few sticks from the blonde-haired girl behind the cart.

Ino couldn't believe that her simple trap had worked, the jonin had actually been interested enough to stop. Now all she had to do was spring her trap. "Would you like to try some, sir? It's our family secret recipe."

Kakashi smiled underneath his mask. _Girl's pretty enough. If she were about seven years older, I'd date her. Come to think of it, she looks familiar._ "Sure, I'll take a stick." Was all he said.

Ino hid her smirk as she bent over to retrieve the treat. As she grabbed the treat, she also tripped a hidden wire underneath her stall with her foot. The wire triggered a small blow fan just to the loft of Ino's head, blowing flour all over Kakashi's face. Ino feigned shock.

"Oh dear, sir! I'm so sorry, here, use my sink to clean your face off! I insist!"

Kakashi really didn't know what to think of what had just transpired, but he accepted the odd girl's offer. Just as he was reaching for the brim of his mask, however, he noticed the child's obvious interest in his actions and, most specifically, his mask. _Wait, didn't that kid say that getting a photo of me was a mission for his team?_ Instead of taking off the mask, the jonin simply washed his face off with the piece of cloth still in place.

Ino's heart sunk. _Just when it was going so well, too._

-Later, Kakashi's Apartment-

Hatake Kakashi was a confused man. First the odd kid attacked him at the bookstore, then the flour girl at the dango stand. He was starting to expect attacks from every angle, he had gone to battle position every alley he had passed, palmed a kunai with every kid he passed. He had even stopped reading his precious book on the way home! Now, he was finally home and all he wanted was a hot shower and some down time with his latest purchase.

Shikamaru watched the jonin enter the small domicile, his plan thus far going smoothly. He knew that, regardless if Naruto or Ino failed or succeeded, the target would eventually return home and, after a day as stressful as this, would most likely take a shower. Knowing that, Shikamaru had placed an automatic camera in the man's shower at roughly face height, the one place where he would almost certainly remove his mask. Now all he had to do for his plan to come to fruition was wait for the jonin to take his shower, retrieve his camera, and develop the film.

Shikamaru easily observed the older man's movements through the building, as the lights in the different rooms would turn on and off with the man's passing through them, first the bedroom, then the kitchen, finally the bathroom. After the shower, the man retreated again to the kitchen, then the living room, and finally to the bedroom. The new genin waited for over an hour, waiting for Kakashi to go to sleep. It didn't take long for the light in the bedroom to go out.

The riskiest part of the plan was the retrieval of the camera, but the young shadow user managed to pull it off without his prey stirring from his sleep. After returning home, Shikamaru immediately set out to develop his film using the family's dark room. However, after only three shots in, Shikamaru found that there was one tragic flaw in his plan. Steam had completely obscured his camera lens, meaning that each and every one of his photographs was nothing more than a giant blur of white.

_It figures, the one time that a plan has absolutely no snags in the execution, the end result had to fail. This is so troublesome._

-The Next Morning-

Ino, Naruto, and Shikamaru met in front of the WildKat, each looking a little worse for the wear for the previous days excursion.

Ino was the first to speak. "I don't suppose either of you had any luck either, huh?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "Got nothing for all the trouble I went through, you?"

Naruto, minus his trademark jacket, shook his head as well. "No photo, just lost my jacket and a bit of my pride. The bastard has some sickening jutsu, though."

Ino crossed her arms and looked at the boys. "So, what are we gonna do? Asuma-sensei gave us till noon today to get the photo or he'll send us all back to the academy."

Naruto shook his head. "I've got no idea. My straightforward plan blew up in my face, and both of you guys got nowhere with subterfuge, so I'm at a loss."

Shikamaru put his hand to his chin for a moment, before a spark appeared in his eyes. "I might have an idea."

Naruto stared at the goateed genin. "If I were anyone else, I'd say I hope you're not thinking what I think your thinking, but since I'm not, I hope you're not serious."

Ino looked back and forth between the boys. "I feel a little out of the loop here, what's going on?"

Shikamaru looked at the blonde girl. "Don't worry, you're going to like this one."

-Back at Kakashi's Apartment-

Kakashi was just starting his day as his doorbell rang. _How cute, my little student's are actually tying to track me down instead of waiting for me politely at our meeting spot. Guess I'll just have to teach them that sometimes it's better to follow orders than go above and beyond the call of duty._

As he reached the door, he couldn't resist asking a most cliché phrase. "Who is it?"

The answer actually surprised him.

"Porno delivery!"

With an answer like that, how could he _not_ open the door? Whatever he was actually expecting on the other side, he certainly wasn't expecting what he found. The two blond brats from the day before were standing there, as well as the little brown haired brat who was running around his house last night.

Well, he couldn't resist at least one crack. "Here to egg my place for making you all fail?"

Ino just smirked. "No, we're here to make sure we pass."

Without another word, Ino delivered a swift kick to Kakashi's groin. While the jonin was staggered, Naruto pulled the man's mask off and Shikamaru snapped a fast photo before shouting. "RUN!!"

The three rookies took off at a rapid clip before Kakashi could regain both his composure or his wind. It took the cyclopean jonin almost a minute to recover, but when he did, he took off in a blood rage after them.

Back at the WildKat, Hanekoma and Asuma were just sitting down to a morning cup of coffee.

"So, my brats haven't been here yet?" Asuma asked the coffee man.

"Well, they were here earlier in the morning, but they took off again before they ever came in the door. Looked like they were on a mission, too."

Asuma took a sip of his beverage of choice. "Hmm, maybe one last shot at finishing the job? Not that I expect them to actually get it, but the fact that they're working together means that they've already passed."

Hanekoma took a sip from his own mug. "So, what is it that you asked them to get, anyway?"

Asuma smirked. "A photo of Hatake without his mask on. As I said, an impossible task even for a jonin, but they'll learn from it."

Just as the words left Asuma's mouth, the door to the shop flew open, Naruto coming to a sliding stop in front of his sensei. "Sorry it's not developed just got it running from homicidal maniac! BYE!"

Naruto threw the camera onto the counter before running out the door again, taking off in a random direction in hopes of not getting caught by a murderous Scarecrow.

Asuma looked down at the camera. "I don't believe it, the brat's actually did it."

**A/N: Thank you evryone who reviewed! Keep them coming! For those of you who asked what the pin Naruto found in the scroll looks like, go to Google Image Search and type in The World Ends With You Black Skull Pin and you should get a good idea. As always, constructive criticism is welcome, flames will be doused and added to my ever growing nest. This is your one and only Shining Pheonix signing off.**


	4. Shopping

**Chapter 4: Shopping**

"Mitarashi Anko, we have reviewed your 42nd request to change your status, with regards to one Uzumaki Naruto, from sponsor to full legal guardianship. After a full review of psychological profiles, residency, and income, we have come to the conclusion that it is in the best interest of all parties to decline your request. If you have any questions or concerns regarding this ruling, please contact the councilor in charge of Social Services, Haruno Shizuru."

Anko threw the letter across the room. "You have got to be kidding me. They call me _psychologically incapable_ of raising a child? Oh, you better believe that I'm gonna talk to this Haruno bitch!"

Ibiki stuck his head inside of Anko's office. "I'm guessing that the council declined your request again."

Anko gave Ibiki a dangerous look. "I have half a mind to say 'fuck them', and just take the kid in without their permission. After all, the old man said yes, so why isn't that good enough for them?"

Ibiki simply shook his head. "True, the old man did tell you yes, but let's remember that the council has been out to screw this kid since day one. If you put in an official request to help him in any way, they're going to tell you 'no' on principal."

Anko's gaze softened a little. "Is that your roundabout way of saying that you're not going to stop me?"

Ibiki returned the look. "Don't get me wrong, I don't really care one way or the other about the brat, I'm just trying to help the old man, and that usually means making sure the council gets as little of its way as possible. Just don't come to me for parenting advice."

Anko smirked. "I'll take that as a yes."

--Konoha Market District—

*pant*pant* "I, I think, we lost him."

"I said, knock him out, _not_ kick him, in the balls!"

"Well, excuse, me, for, trying to, spice things up a little!"

The newly minted Team 10 had narrowly escaped Kakashi's wrath by ducking into Konoha's busiest market district, a building that had survived since the original city upon which Konoha was built, an odd tower called "104".

Ino, after catching her breath, looked around. "Well, this saves me some time. I've wanted to go shopping here all week!"

Shikamaru simply shook his head. "You girls and your shopping. Do it if you want, but I'm gonna go and check in with my folks, I've got some questions I want to ask my old man."

Naruto tried once again to increase the volume on his headphones, stopping only for fear of ripping off the knob. "I don't care one way or another, I just want out of this crowd."

Ino turned to face the other blonde. "Come on, I'm sure it's noisy, but it can't possibly be that bad!"

Naruto glared. "Take the largest crowd you've ever been in and double the noise, only it's all in your head and you can't shut it out, _then_ you might understand why I don't like crowds."

Ino paused for a moment to consider. "Right, let's go inside where there's less people, shall we?"

True to Ino's prediction, there was far fewer people inside the tall structure than there was outside near the open air stalls. "Now, where should we go first?" the blonde girl mused aloud.

Naruto followed behind his teammate, catching snippets of thoughts and conversations here and there.

_Fifty nine ryou for this! They have got to be out of their minds!_

_I wander what he'd like to see me in? I mean, all I've ever seen him where is black and blue…?_

_They're selling this for fifteen? How the hell are they making a profit?_

_Is that Cat's latest line? I'm sure I could attract anyone wearing that!_

…_I wonder what size he wears? Guess all I can do is ask. Hey, Naruto._ "Hey, Naruto, can you hear me?"

Naruto blinked for what he felt was the thousandth time that day. "Sorry, lost in the crowd, what did you say?"

Ino gave her teammate a thorough looking over. "I was trying to ask what size of jacket you wear. Kakashi destroyed yours, right? You might as well get a new one while you're here."

"Oh, umm, I think a small."

Ino continued her appraisal of the smaller blonde. _A small, he thinks? In what, children's?_ "Naruto, I don't know where you got that jacket, but I'll be blunt. _I_ wear stuff in small, and your smaller than me. If you want anything that fits well, you'd have to go for something like Extra small."

Naruto simply stared at Ino for a moment. "Whatever you think works. I've never really gone shopping like this before."

_What?"_You've never gone clothes shopping?"

Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Well, most of the stuff I have I got from Anko-nee-san, but that was just before I entered the Academy, and she did all the shopping."

Ino was absolutely flabbergasted. "You're telling me, that you've been going all this time with clothes that someone got you three years ago?"

Naruto tilted his head to one side. "Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

_What the FUCK is RIGHT with that!_ "Change of plans, forget the coat, we are getting you a new wardrobe."

With that statement, Ino took hold of Naruto's shirtsleeve and dove into the nearest clothing vendor.

--Nara Gaming Supplies—

"So, you're saying that you don't know a thing about this?"

"That's right."

"Why is it that I don't believe you?"

Shikaku sighed. This was positively one of the worst conversations he had had with his son. "Listen, I'm really not the guy to ask about any of this, and some of it I _can't _tell anyone. If you want to know more about telepathy, Inoichi is the guy to ask, and Naruto is the best person to ask about himself."

It was Shikamaru's turn to sigh. He wasn't used to his old man stonewalling him like this, and what was he referring to when he said he _couldn't_ answer some of his questions? "Damn troublesome blonde, you're not even here and your giving me a headache." He muttered under his breath.

Shikaku simply shook his head. "Look, it's getting late, and you're supposed to meet your team for dinner, correct? You should get going."

Shikamaru stood up. "Don't think I'm giving up on this. I'll find out what's going on one way or another."

"I expect nothing less."

--104 building—

"So, what do you think? Much better than the old one."

Naruto bore an odd look on his face at Ino's question. He had just stepped out of the changing room, new clothes and all. Ino had picked out his new outfit, black cargo pants and sandals on his legs, with a kunai pouch on his right thigh and a shuriken holster on his left hip, a black shirt with an orange spiral design on the front and fishnet sleeves resided under a red and black jacket, a modified version of the ANBU spiral on the side, where the jacket was red the design was black, and vice versa. Topping off the outfit was a pair of gloves, fingerless at first glance but in actuality fingered by a fine mesh, and a pair of new red-orange headphones.

"It's…different." Was his response.

Ino frowned. "You don't like it? We can change it if you want."

Naruto shook his head. "No, it's not that I don't like it, it's just that…I guess I need some time to get used to it."

The headphones wearing blonde looked at himself in the mirror again. The look wasn't a bad one, but he kind of missed his normal orange ensemble. _Maybe I can find a copy of this jacket in orange…no, I have to start thinking like a ninja, after all, I AM one now, so black and red are a lot less noticeable than orange…_

While Naruto was trying to decide what he thought of his new look, Shikamaru approached the clothing vendor.

_Gotta' admit, Phones, that does look a lot better on you than that old jumpsuit._

Naruto turned to face his teammate. "Yeah, I'm just not entirely sold on the gloves, though."

Ino chimed in. "You two really have to break that habit of only one of you speaking out loud, it makes you both look crazy in public."

Shikamaru simply shrugged. "So what? Who really cares what the public thinks as long as we know what's going on?"

Ino smacked her head in frustration. "Oh! You're impossible sometimes, Shika! Don't you realize how important appearance can be sometimes? If people think you're…"

Just as Ino was ready to continue her tirade, her stomach let out a rumble. Naruto laughed, glad that at least _someone_ besides him had remembered dinner.

"Maybe we should head over to Wildkat now?" he suggested.

--Hokage Tower—

"So, now that we're assembled, I would like some status reports on the prospective teams."

Ten Jounin were assembled in the inner conference room of the Hokage Tower, sitting at attention in front of the old man himself. Kakashi was the first to speak.

"Mine passed, as expected. Sasuke performed exceptionally, and his teammates managed to work together at the end to earn a passing grade from me. On those grounds, I give Team 7 a go."

Sarutobi stroked his beard. "Very well, I can find fault with the method but I will agree with the verdict. Who's next?"

Kurenai spoke up next. "My team worked almost frighteningly well. While Shino and Chouji were able to begin the tracking of my false target, Hinata managed to not only see through my genjutsu, but convince both her teammates that the target was fake and that I was standing just to their right. Because they were able to work together as a team to not only defeat my genjutsu but also find and confront me, I give them a pass."

The elderly Hokage nodded his head in agreement. "Very well, anyone else?"

Several other jonin spoke up at this point, each reporting their teams failures to pass the test to confirm themselves as genin. Finally, only Asuma had yet to speak up. Kakashi was the first to point this out.

"What's the matter, Asuma? Your brats fail that miserably? There's no shame in admitting it, after all, you had _Uzumaki _on your team."

Asuma slowly took a drag on his cigarette before, at first lightly chuckling, then letting loose a full laugh.

Kurenai tutted. "Look what you did, Kakashi. You broke him!"

A jonin near the back shook his head. "I think Kakashi was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Uzumaki probably did most of the breaking long before now."

It was Asuma's turn to shake his head, wiping a tear of laughter away while he did so. "No, no, Naruto didn't do a thing to me. I give Team 10 a pass on the grounds that they came together to do the impossible and retrieved a photo of something that many can only fantasize about."

The elder Sarutobi gave his son a quizzical look. "Would you care to expound upon that?"

Asuma held up a handful of recently developed pictures. "I present to you, the fabled face of Hatake Kakashi, photographed under extreme danger by my good students of Team 10."

At this statement, Kakashi screamed. "IT WAS YOU!!! GIVE ME THOSE PICTURES!!!!"

Without waiting for Asuma to hand over said photos, Kakashi ripped them from the smoking jonin's hand and immediately ripped them apart, before anyone else in the room could see them. At this point, the elder Sarutobi made his presence known.

"Kakashi, SIT DOWN!"

Almost without realizing it, the cyclopean jonin complied.

"Uhh, not to rain on your parade, Asuma, but since Kakashi just destroyed the evidence, is your team still even eligible for passing?" another jonin in the back of the room mused aloud.

The younger Sarutobi smirked again. "Of course, you think I was stupid enough to only make one set of copies?"

Before Kakashi could react again, the Sandaime spoke.

"Alright, Team 10 has also met the requirements and are now confirmed as gennin. Now, unless there are any pertinent questions," a daring glare was shot in Kakashi's direction. "You are all dismissed to your duties."

As jonin began shuffling out of the room, Kakashi stopped Asuma. "Why did you make obtaining a photo of my face a genin test? Couldn't you have just picked, I don't know, robbing a bank?"

Asuma took another drag on his oral fixation before answering. "I could have, but considering Naruto's record he might have been able to pull that off by himself. I wanted their test to be something that would force them all to work together in order to achieve the goal. All three of these kids have been raised to achieve their objectives by themselves, so by nature they won't be team players. If they were to work together, the problem had to be larger than anything any one of them could have achieved on their own. In short, I needed to give them a truly impossible task. I never expected them to succeed, that was just icing on the cake."

Kakashi blinked. "Asuma, you are the most logically insane person I have ever met."

--WildKat Café'--

As the trio of rookie genin walked into the coffee house, Hanekoma greeted them with a smile. "Good to see you, boss. These guys the partners you mentioned?"

Naruto's smile was visible above his new high-collar jacket. "Yup! H-san, I want you to meet Shikamaru and Ino, my new teammates! Ino, Shikamaru, this is H-san, the single greatest coffee maker in the world!"

Hanekoma's smile widened as he scratched the back of his head. "Well, I don't know about 'the world', but I'm certainly one of the best in Konoha. So, since you kids are here celebrating your team confirmation, first round's on the house."

Shikamaru paused for a moment. "How did you know that we're here to celebrate coming together as a team?"

Hanekoma just laughed. "Don't be so suspicious, I had already asked Phones to bring his new team in to meet me the other night, so I knew you'd be coming in at some point or another, and from the bright looks on everyone's faces, it was rather easy to assume that you'd all passed your sensei's little test."

That answer seemed to satisfy the young shadow-user, so the team took seats at the front bar. As Hanekoma moved to the back of the bar to fill their orders, Ino turned to Naruto.

"How is it that you met Hanekoma-san?" she asked.

Naruto turned to her from turning down the volume on his headphones. "Well, it was about three years ago, just after I joined the Academy. I was walking home when I noticed H-san closing up shop, and he asked me if I wouldn't mind helping him. He gave me these headphones as thanks and I've been coming back ever since."

Hanekoma set the drinks down in front of the team. "Yeah, you should of seen the kid when he first came in here, I had to lean so far of the counter to see him that it was funny."

This received a giggle from Ino and a snort from Naruto, who hid his fake scowl in his house blend. Shikamaru smirked and slowly shook his head at his new teammates' antics._ We're either going to kick so much ass or fail miserably, and either one is going to be a hell of a ride._

As the three genin animatedly chatted with the store proprietor, Naruto detected three approaching minds in a foul mood. _Please, don't let it be the drunk idiots again?_

As they got closer, Naruto was able to make out individual thoughts.

_Can't believe he let the asshole pass without ever even working with us, some 'teamwork'._

_I can't believe we passed! __**And on Sasuke-kun's team too!**__ I can't wait to tell Ino! __**Bet that bitch didn't pass at all! After all she's on **_**Naruto's**_** team!**_

_That one-eyed bastard had better have some better things to teach me than that. Getting slowed down by 'teammates' won't do anything to make me stronger._

Ino was the first to notice the pained expression on the young telepath's face. "Are you okay, Naruto?"

Before the smaller blonde had a chance to answer, the doors to the shop opened, revealing a battered Team 7. Kiba took one look at the three sitting at the bar before laughing.

"Heh, here to drown your spirits about failing, huh? Well, too bad, but thanks for keeping our seats warm, but it's time for you losers to let those who are here to celebrate victory have their appropriate seats!"

Shikamaru glared daggers at the dog tamer. "I don't know what nonsense you're babbling on about, Kiba, but we're here to celebrate passing our sensei's test, and would be very appreciative if you'd get lost to let us do it in peace."

Sasuke snorted. "Quit lying. As if three losers like you could even pass the most basic of tests. I don't know how any of you even graduated from the Academy in the first place?"

"Yeah, like they would even let a butch be a ninja in the first place!" Sakura piped in.

"Hey! I don't care if you kids want to order something, but I draw the line at throwing insults at my customers." Hanekoma declared, looking menacing even from behind the counter.

Kiba only smirked. "We're not insulting anyone, we're just calling trash what it is, trash!"

"You're treading on thin ice, Inuzuka!" Ino declared, standing up from her bar stool.

As the insults flew, Naruto leaned over the counter while increasing the volume on his headphones. _Where's all this noise coming from? Why is it so loud? It feels like my heads going to explode!_

As Naruto was leaned over, Sasuke walked towards the bar. "Trying to play the silent type, huh?" _I'll teach you what happens to those who ignore me!_ Without hesitation, Sasuke shoved Naruto's head into the bar counter, breaking his coffee mug and scattering his meal all across the countertop.

Before Naruto even had a chance to cry out in pain, all three members of Team 7 found themselves literally _flying_ out the front door of the café. As the doors swung back, they heard Hanekoma shouting at them. "AND NEVER DARKEN MY ESTABLISHMENT EVER AGAIN!"

Inside the shop, Ino was helping Naruto up from where he had slid after Sasuke's attack. "Are you okay?" _Why did Sasuke do that?_

Naruto accepted Ino's hand as she pulled him up. "I'll be okay." He said, his voice nearly a whisper.

Hanekoma swept up the broken dishes and spilt food and beverages from the counter. "I'm so sorry about that, guys. If you're all up to it, I'll get you another round."

Shikamaru shook his head. "Sorry, that kind of killed my appetite."

"Mine too." Ino stated, Naruto nodding his agreement.

Hanekoma sighed. "Alright, you kids take care going home, okay?"

As the genin turned to leave, Ino tried her hand at silent communication. _Do you need any help getting home?_

Naruto shook his head at the girl's unspoken question. "I'll be okay." He promised, almost convincingly.

Lacking a good reason to walk their rattled comrade home, Ino and Shikamaru bade Naruto good night as they each went their separate ways. Naruto managed to shake off most of the effects of Sasuke's irrational action by the time he made it to his apartment. _I really should talk to Anko-nee-san._ He thought as he fished his keys from his new pocket. After finding the correct key, Naruto attempted to unlock the door, only for the key to refuse to turn. Taking a closer look at the doorknob, Naruto noted that the brass appeared far shinier than it had when he left this morning._ Oh, sunnuva…_

As several expliciteves crossed Naruto's mind, he felt a new mind approach. Turning, he saw none other than Anko climbing the steps to his apartment entrance. Quickly moving to cover the doorknob with his back, he plastered on a fake grin to his approaching sponsor. "Hey, Anko-nee! I was just thinking about you!"

Anko didn't need any of her twelve years of psychological training to tell that the smile and cheer coming off the blonde was faker than a three dollar bill. Still, it wouldn't do to upset him any further, so she played along for the moment. "It's been a while, kiddo. Sorry I haven't had a chance to come buy much since the start of the last year."

Naruto's fake grin just stretched a bit more. "It's okay. I'm sure that those psyche guys needed a lot of your help to catch the bad guys."

At that, Anko almost felt like she could physically rip the psychological mask the pint-sized brat in front of her was wearing off, but that would be counter-productive, so she continued with his act. "Yeah, but I hear that _you're_ going to be one of the ones chasing them now. Congrat's on passing, kiddo."

Naruto could feel his heart breaking on the inside. Without Anko, he knew that he likely wouldn't be alive right now, but he still couldn't bring himself to tell her what his landlord had done. "Thanks. I'll have to introduce you to my team."

Anko had to choke back a sigh, as well as suppress her anger. He had cleaned off almost all of the coffee stains, but she could still see the quickly healing bruise and nicks on his face. She had also seen the shiny new lock on the door that her soon-to-be adopted little brother had tried to hide from her. Still, she felt that she needed to continue the game. "That's nice, why don't we talk about it inside?"

Naruto's mask finally faltered, if just marginally. She knew how to play this game well, and she had efficiently backed him into a corner from which he could not escape. His grin only faltered a little as he made one more futile move. "I'd love to, but my key broke off in the lock."

Anko finally gave into that sigh that she had been holding back. "Please cut the crap, it really doesn't suit you. The landlord locked you out again."

Even though it was a statement, Naruto answered anyway. "Yeah, he did."

Anko shook her head. _I'll have to deal with that man later._ "Come on, kiddo, you're coming home with me."

Naruto stood silent for a moment, shocked. "You mean it?"

Anko gave the blonde a smile, far more real than the one he had given her moments ago. "Yup. You're not staying in this dump a day longer."

With that, Anko took Naruto's hand and led him to his new home.


	5. Missions and Memories

**Chapter Five: Missions and Memories**

"_For all your so called genius, at times like this you're still a disgrace to the clan!"_

"_I'd rather be a disgrace to the clan than forget to whom I owe the most."_

"_Have you no shame? You owe the clan, me, everything! We made you who you are!"_

"_You are responsible for my existence, certainly, but you didn't make me who I am."_

"_Look, regardless, I think he would have wanted you to take his position, that's all I'm trying to say! Who else would be better than his partner?"_

"_It's because I'm his partner that I can say no. where he was a composer, I am little more than a very efficient brush. As such, I have no right to try and finish his composition."_

"_You are an Uchiha! None are better 'composers' than we!"_

"_And that is the reason you will drive this clan into oblivion."_

*Blink*Blink*

Uchiha Itachi, Konoha 'S' class missing nin, wanted for the murder of all save one of his family, former ANBU captain, and current member of the Akatsuki criminal organization, suddenly sprang up from his bed, sweating bullets. _What a nightmare, to dig up _that_ memory…_

"Yo, Itachi, you okay?"

Hoshigaki Kisame stood in Itachi's door, obviously being summoned by his housemate's apparent distress.

Itachi shook his head to clear the last vestiges of sleep from his mind. "I'm okay, just some bad memories."

Kisame chuckled lightly, shaking his own head. "Heh, don't we all have a few of those?"

"Yeah, I suppose so…" Itachi replied, staring into space. _No matter how many times I think about it, I can never get over the fact that I have deviated from his plan. Maybe I should…_

Itachi's thoughts were interrupted by Kisame. "Oh, yeah, now that you're up, we got some orders from Pain."

Itachi turned to his newest partner. "New orders?"

Kisame nodded. "Yup, apparently one of our contacts in your old hometown has quit talking, so we're supposed to go find out what happened to him."

Itachi rose from his bed. "To Konoha, then. It's been a long time."

Kisame smirked. "While we're there, I won't mind if you visit that lady friend of yours."

Itachi immediately snapped to face the shark-like man. "What are you talking about?"

Kisame's smirk widened. "Come on, it's not like it's any secret that you left someone behind. I know I did, I'm pretty sure that Deidera did, hell, even _Pain_ has a woman. Like I said, I won't care if you spend a lost night with her as long as we get what we need to done."

Itachi's body relaxed a little. "Very well. Since I'm not getting anymore sleep tonight, we may as well prepare to head out."

Kisame smirked yet again.

-Training Ground 13, Konoha-

"Mission, complete."

Asuma smirked as he saw his team walk into the clearing that made up their preferred training ground.

"Not bad, not bad at all." Was his reply to Shikamaru's statement. "I think catching that cat is deserving of a day off, don't you?"

Shikamaru scoffed in response. "The only thing I care about at the moment is that that was successful consecutive mission number forty."

"Which means," Naruto continued. "That we just won the bet."

Asuma's smirk threatened to become a full smile around his cigarette. _Ah, the bet. I can't believe that it's only been a month and five days since we made it…_

-Training Ground 13, 1 month 5 days ago-

"Alright, now that you've passed my diabolical little test, tell me a bit about yourselves."

Naruto rubbed the back of his head. "Umm, sensei, haven't you already read our files? Whatever we could tell you, you should already know."

Asuma smirked. "Heh, that right there should show you why one never relies on the official files."

It was Shikamaru's turn to scratch his head. "Okay, I know your trying to say something important, but I'm not seeing it."

Asuma gestured toward Naruto. "If one were to believe the official files, Phone's here should be a drooling idiot." He then gestures toward Ino. "Petals' here would be nothing more than a flower-obsessed egomaniac." He finally points at Shikamaru. "And you would be an absolute moron. That is, if you simply trusted the official files. I'd like to find out about you from the source. I don't need your personal biography, just a general overview of what you like, dislike, preferred training methods, things like that."

"Fine then, if that's what you want I don't mind going first." Ino spoke up. "I like a lot of things, but my favorite things are flowers, sharp, pointy objects, and action manga. I don't like bad fashion sense, sexist idiots, and quitters. As for a training method, I like to dissect things into discrete parts and tackle it a piece at a time. And if you want to know my dream, it's rather simple." At this, Shikamaru face-palmed, and Naruto caught a snippet of thought. _Not this again._

Ino continued, ignorant of Shikamaru's silent interruption. "I WANT TO SURPASS THE GODS!" she shouted.

Asuma paused to blink at this. _Well, _that _certainly wasn't in her official file, but it doesn't surprise me. Inoichi warned me that she had a strong motivation, I just didn't expect it to be _this_ big of an understatement._ "Alright, why don't you go next, Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru sighed, mumbling a quiet 'troublesome' as he began. "Fine, I like games, especially strategy games, reading books, preferably those on strategy or psychology, and classical music. I hate, no, _loathe_ those who abuse those weaker than themselves, especially children, and I don't care for those who look to others for a solution without thinking for themselves. As for training, I like to see, then do."

"Not going to share your dream?" Asuma asked.

"No, to troublesome." Was his answer.

Asuma shrugged at that. _He's about what I expected after seeing him in the game shop, a genius without a solid motivation until confronted with a problem. He's the type who make excellent field commanders, but poor political leaders._ "Okay, Phones, your turn."

Naruto scratched the back of his head again. "Hmm, my likes? I like graffiti, I guess. I also like music and coffee, and I do like writing, from time to time. As for dislikes? Hypocritical assholes, their definitely at the top of that list, and nato, that stuff is just plain _nasty_. To train? I usually like to see, as well as look at the theory behind whatever it is I'm training in. A dream? I haven't really thought that far out yet, sorry."

Asuma nodded at that. _You would never see any of that in his file, and he definitely has some skeletons in the closet, but he's not that different from any other kid his age, his personality isn't fully formed yet and it shows. But their all just as I had initially concluded, they've come to expect there to be no one to help them but themselves, and they have adjusted accordingly. But, they've also proven to me that they _can _work together, and that's all that matters._

"Alright, now that we've gotten that out of the way, I assume that you all know about missions and their rankings, correct?" Receiving three affirmative nods, Asuma continued. "Well, normally, a new genin team won't see its first 'C' ranked mission for at least four months, but I can tell that you three won't be satisfied with that, so I'm going to make a bet with you."

Naruto perked up at this. "A bet? What kind?"

Asuma smirked again. _So, the kid's interested in gambling? Didn't see that one coming, but it could be useful if nurtured correctly._ "A simple one. If you guys can complete forty 'D' ranked missions consecutively within two months, I'll see about getting you a 'C' rank early. If you guys lose, however, you'll be doing nothing but training exercises for two months, agreed?"

Shikamaru looked at Naruto, who nodded, then at Ino, who reciprocated, then looked back at Asuma.

"We're in."

-Present-

"So, what's our big mission going to be? Guarding some noble back to his country? Protecting a shipment of weapons being brought into Konoha? Espionage against some radical terrorist group?"

Asuma smirked again. _Ah, kid, you are so fun to be around._ "Sorry, Phones. Most of those would be 'B' ranked missions. However, I will try to find you something exciting, sound fair?"

Naruto deflated a little, but then straightened back up. "Fair enough." He concluded.

"In that case, your all dismissed until tomorrow morning."

At that, the three genin started walking back into downtown Konoha. As they were walking, Naruto began thinking about the last month. After Anko had taken him in, things had gotten a bit better for him, and by a 'bit', that would be that he no longer had to deal with the nonsense from his landlord. Around town, he still got both nasty looks and thoughts from most of the townspeople, but his standing amongst shinobi seemed to have improved somewhat, as he no longer received any direct hostility from most of the higher ranking ninja. His standing with his team, however, had improved drastically, as both Shikamaru and Ino had accepted him as both a teammate and friend.

Over the last month, the three had not only been working on missions, but their individual skills as well. Naruto no longer feared large crowds and the associated mind noise, although he still wore his headphones everywhere as his control was still far from perfect. He had also discovered, through hard experience, that by skin to skin contact with someone, he could directly interact with their mind, not always a pleasant thing. By a happy accident, he had also discovered a few new uses for _kage Bunshin_, such as the move's ability to transfer memories to the original. Ino had proven herself to be the most taijutsu oriented of the three, and her love of action manga was shown in her inventive self-taught style of martial arts. While her taijutsu skills were showing a lot of promise, she had also shown a bent for genjutsu, and she had begun work on a completely original illusion. Shikamaru had proven himself a brilliant strategist, time after time creating brutally effective plans to end a mission in the shortest time possible, and his strategic ability had only improved with practice. His skill with his family's shadow-style jutsu had also improved, making him the most dangerous member of the team.

_What do you think, WildKat again?_

Ino's thought snapped Naruto out of his. "Yeah, sounds great." He replied, trying to suppress a yawn. While chasing that twice-damned cat for the third time hadn't been challenging (Naruto had just used a piece of sushi in one of Ino's many noose traps), it had been a long day and the coffee sounded rather good to the young shinobi's caffeine-addicted bloodstream.

It didn't take the trio long to reach the coffee shop, their increased running speed a testament to their training. Just as Naruto reached for the door handle, the door was swung open from the other side, knocking the young ninja backwards.

"I apologize, I didn't see you there."

Looking up, Naruto saw two men, one of roughly average height, the other approaching seven feet in height, standing in the doorframe he had just attempted to go through. Both wore the same outfit, a black, full-body cloak embroidered with red clouds, as well as large straw hats with ceremonial bells that covered most of their faces.

"It's alright." Naruto answered, taking the outstretched hand of the smaller of the two men.

As the man helped the young ninja up, he made a small noise, almost audible to the other two young ninja nearby. Naruto, though he couldn't hear it, _felt_ a ping of recognition from the man. Once he was back on his feet, Naruto was able to get a good look under the man's hat, and he mimed the ping the man had given him.

"Wait… are you…?"

Before Naruto could complete his question, the man took three objects from his pocket and placed them in Naruto's hand.

"For your trouble." He quickly said, then motioned to the other man to follow and walked off.

"Hey! You could at least say you're sorry!" Ino called after the retreating men, fist shaking dramatically.

"You okay, Phones?" Shikamaru asked, moving to his friend's side.

Naruto looked back at the retreating figures, then to the three objects the stranger had placed in his hand. "I'm fine." He answered, a look of bewilderment on his face.

"What did he give you?" Ino asked, looking back to her teammate.

In answer, Naruto held out his hand. In it were three pins, one red with an orange flame, one bearing the word 'LIVE' in orange-yellow letters on a black background, and one with a red pinwheel on a light blue background. Something about the pins felt… familiar to the headphones wearing blonde, but one thought still rung through his mind.

_Was it really him?_

-Elsewhere-

"What did you give him, Itachi?"

Itachi pulled the brim of his hat just a little lower.

"Just something I can't use anymore, but he should be able to put to good use."

Kisame shook his head. "I don't think I'll ever understand you."

Itatchi 'hmmmd' in response. _To think that he's already a Genin… He's advancing faster than even Jiraiya had anticipated. Could he be more like Minato than I thought?_

"So, what are we going to tell Pain?" Kisame asked as the two continued down the road.

"The truth, he died of cardiac arrest. Time claims everyone, eventually."

Indeed, the man that the two had been sent to find, one Abarai Renji, had died on the operating table three weeks ago, from complications arising both from the man's age and his weak heart. He had been an intelligence officer before his retirement from the Konoha Ninja Corp., and had been supplying the Akatsuki with information from his still-active network of spies throughout the world. Losing him was a blow to the organization's abilities, thankfully not a crippling one.

"Well, since that's all taken care of and everything, I think I'll take a walk." Kisame said, starting to veer off the main road toward the seedier side of town.

The large man didn't get far before the back of his cloak was caught.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Kisame looked back at his partner over his shoulder, a nervous smile on his face.

"Well, the job's done, and you probably want some privacy when you see your lady-friend and little brother, so I thought I'd just kill some time while waiting for you."

Itachi's eyes narrowed under the brim of his hat.

"You can 'kill time' by contacting Pain and delivering our report over the remote link. I will meet you at the north gate in two hours."

Kisame deflated. _Why me?_

-Konoha Intelligence Division Building-

Anko stretched as she walked back into her office. The day had been long and boring, although some would consider no new prisoners in need of her skills to be a good thing. Looking away from the door, however, caused Anko to immediately revise her opinion of the day.

"What the fuck are you doing in my office, Haruno?"

Haruno Shizuru, head of Konoha Social Services, sat at Anko's desk, both feet on said desk, a shot glass of Anko's private sake stash in her hand.

"Waiting to deliver a message, of course." She replied, downing the contents of the shot glass. "Excellent reserve, by the way."

Anko resisted the urge to simply murder the woman where she sat. "What message, and get your fucking feet off my desk."

Shizuru tutted as she complied. "Such language. I hope you don't use it around the house with such an impressionable child around."

Anko was _really_ considering murdering the woman now.

"Message, then get out."

Shizuru sighed dramatically. "Oh, very well. We at Social Services were merely wondering why you defied a direct order and adopted one Uzumaki Naruto. After all, your request had been legally denied, several times as I recall."

For a moment, Anko appeared to be grinding her teeth, then, oddly, she relaxed.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I haven't 'adopted' anyone. Naru-kun is legally an adult, after all. He's simply staying at my place until a matter with his former landlord is settled."

It was Shizuru's turn to grind teeth. "Is that so? Then why hasn't he filed a change of residence form with Social Services?"

It almost looked like Anko was surpressing a laugh. "Again, he's legally an adult, and therefore out of Social Services' hands. As a ninja, the only one he reports to now is his superior officer, and he doesn't work for _you_."

Shizuru's anger was almost visible at that comment. "Is that so? Well, I wouldn't count on that for very long, if I were you."

Anko started to smirk openly. "That sounded pretty damn close to sedition to me. Want to see what the ANBU and Old Man have to say about that?"

Shizuru paled, realizing that she had just said that last part out loud. Quickly schooling her features, she replied. "No, that's fine. Just remember, defying the council can be more dangerous than you think."

Standing up, Shizuru brushed past Anko as she quickly left the room.

_I fucking _hate _that woman._ Was Anko's thought as she walked to her desk. Sitting down, the interrogator threw the used shot glass into the trash before reaching into her desk and pulling out a new one for herself. As she began pouring a few fingers of the foreign brandy into the small glass, a knock came at the door.

"Is this Mitirashi Anko's office?" a man in a black cloak and straw hat asked.

Anko took one look at the man before returning to her drink. "Sorry, pal, I don't take walk in visits."

"You might want to take this one." The man said, walking through the door and removing his hat.

Anko looked back up, eyes going wide in surprise. "Itachi?"


	6. A History Lesson

**Chapter Six: A History Lesson**

"Thanks again for coming and helping me, with most of the staff being re-assigned with the last graduating class all of my paperwork has been piling up."

Shino simply nodded as he and his teammates handed the stacks of papers back to Iruka.

"It was our mission, after all."

Iruka looked mildly surprised for a moment, before a realization crossed his mind, which brought back his smile. "Of course."

Behind Shino, Chouji could be seen fishing a bag of chips out of his belt pack and Hinata stood next to the quiet bug-user, not quite as nervous-looking as she appeared even a month and a half ago.

"Is that all you needed, Iruka-sensei?" the pale girl asked.

Iruka scratched the back of his head in thought for a moment.

"Well, the paperwork is all that I really needed, but if you want to stick around I'm getting ready to give my new class a history lecture."

Chouji swallowed his chip before speaking up.

"History? What time period?"

Iruka smiled again. _Ah, I nearly forgot that history was Chouji's favorite subject._

"It's just a general overview. This class is an introductory, and, like I said, most of the staff has been re-assigned after your graduation."

Shino turned to Hinata, who gave a small nod, then to Chouji, who shrugged his shoulders before returning to his chips. Turning to face Iruka again, the sunglass-clad ninja nodded.

Several minutes later, Iruka walked into his classroom followed by Team 8, the later taking seats off to the side of the class, as the teacher looked over his class.

"Alright, since everyone is here and seated, let's get started. Yesterday, we talked about the lessons we could learn from the past, so today we're going to go over a general overview of history."

There were several groans from around the classroom, which were quickly silenced by a glare by the scarred Chunnin.

"Now, as I'm sure some of you are thinking, 'What good is this stuff going to be on the battlefield, after all, the past is done and over with?' Well, I'm here to tell you that the past is infinitely instructive. To use an ancient saying, those who are ignorant of history are themselves doomed to repeat it. To a shinobi, this can mean using a tactic that had been proven faulty years ago, causing not only a mission failure, but possibly the deaths of his or her entire squad."

Allowing his statement to sink in, Iruka moved to the blackboard, and started to write several dates upon its surface.

"Now, we won't be going fully in-depth with this lecture, but we will be doing a general overview of history as we know it. Now, can anyone tell me what the event that occurred two hundred years ago is called?"

A brown haired kid wearing green goggles and a long scarf in the middle of the back row raised his hand.

"Uhmm, sensei, isn't that event called 'The Split'?"

Iruka nodded, writing the term under the appropriate date on the board.

"That's correct, Konohamaru. The Split was a cataclysmic event that happened two hundred years ago, and from surviving records, we know that in a single day and night more than half of the human population was wiped from the world. Along with their deaths, humanity also lost a lot of its technological skills. That said, there still exists a large amount of technology from the 'Before-Split' era. Now, who can tell me what the four families who retained a large amount of their technical skills and history from before the Split are called?"

A girl with black hair and pure white eyes answered, but didn't bother with raising her hand. "That's easy, they're the Old Clans."

Iruka shook his head. "I'm sorry, Hanabi, but that's incorrect. Does anyone else know?"

Hanabi sputtered slightly in indignation as another young girl, this one with short brown hair, a high collar coat, and black sunglasses raised her hand this time. "Sensei, those clans are referred to as the 'Ancient Families'. The four are our own Nara, the Namikaze, the Kariya, and the Kyuubito family from Mist."

Iruka continued to write on the blackboard. "Very good, Shiji. The Ancient Families are indeed the Nara, Namikaze, Kariya, and Kyuubito. As all of you are aware, the Nara Family is the first family to dwell in Konoha, and Kariya Kokishiro-sama resides over Hi-no-kuni as Daimyo. And, as I'm sure you all know, the last of the Namikaze Family was our own Yondaime Hokage, Namikaze Minato."

After writing the next date on the blackboard, Iruka turned back to the class.

"Alright, does anyone know what the time period from the year 25p.s. to 110p.s. is known as?"

A boy in the front row, with black hair, glasses, and an eternally runny nose raised his hand.

"Uh, Sensei, that's the 'Warring Clans' Period, that ended when Daimyo Kariya Kazuki made Konoha Hi-no-kuni's military center."

Iruka smiled. "Very good, Udon. We'll get back to the end of the Warring Clans Period in a minute, but for now, who can tell me which two clans were most responsible for helping establish the five major nations?"

For a moment, no one raised their hand. Just as Iruka thought no one was going to answer, a pale, orange-haired boy in the back raised his hand. "That was the Senju and the Uchiha, right? And they were two of the four families that founded Konoha."

Iruka nodded as he turned back to the blackboard. "Very good, Nekumaru. And now we shall get back to the end of the Warring Clans Period. During the year 105p.s., the Senju and Uchiha clans, after decades of fighting one another, came to an understanding and encountered the Nara and Namikaze Families, who offered the two clans sanctuary in the largest ruin on the continent. Five years later, in 110p.s., the newly established Daimyo of Hi-no-kuni, Kariya Kazuki, approached the allied clans, who by then had restored and fortified a large portion of the ruins, and asked them to serve as the country's standing military. This event established the still-standing precedent of one Hidden Village per nation."

On the blackboard, Iruka wrote down five names, Fire, Wind, Water, Earth, and Lightning. Next to each of these, he also wrote Leaf, Sand, Mist, Stone, and Cloud, respectively.

"After this precedent was established, the other four nations each founded their own Hidden Villages. Now, since we're short of time today, we'll only mention the two Great Hidden Wars. All we'll cover today is the dates. The first occurred in the year 130p.s., between the allies of Konoha and Suna against Iwa, Mizu, and Kumo. The second occurred in 182p.s., between Konoha and Mizu against Iwa, Kumo and Suna. Tomorrow, we'll go more in-depth on the wars, and look at the military strategies applied in each. With that, we'll break for lunch, and start with some basic physical exercises in the training yard."

As the students all filed out of the room, Team 8 approached Iruka.

"Cool lesson, Sensei." Chouji complimented.

Iruka scratched the back of his head and smiled.

-Yamanaka Family Flower Shop-

Inoichi was wiping the front desk of his family's flower shop when he heard the door open.

"Welcome to Yamanaka's Flowers." He began his normal greeting. "How can I help-, oh, hi Shikaku."

Nara Shikaku walked up to the desk, hands in his pockets and a rather dejected look upon his face.

"Inoichi, I got a problem that I could really use your advice on."

Inoichi immediately stopped cleaning, all his attention now focused on his old teammate. "What's up?" He asked. "And should we move somewhere more private?"

Shikaku nodded his head. "It's pretty big, if you've got a place?"

Inoichi returned the nod. "We can use my office." The blond locked the front door and then motioned for his old teammate to follow him as he walked back to the private office.

Once behind closed doors, Inoichi offered Shikaku a chair as he pulled a pair of shot glasses and a bottle of amber liquid out of a filing cabinet.

"Care for a drink?" the blond asked, setting the drink ware down on the desk.

"Thanks." Shikaku nodded in appreciation. "I think I need it."

Inoichi sat down after pouring the brandy. "So, what do you need?"

After downing the contents of the tumbler, Shikaku poured himself another finger length.

"I've got a big problem. Shikamaru's starting to ask questions about four and a half years ago."

Inoichi sat his tumbler down, contents momentarily forgotten. "What do you mean, 'he's asking questions'? He was there, after all-"

Shikaku waved his hand, cutting Inoichi off. "Sorry, let me explain. He's not asking about the events of that night, he's already dealt with that. No, he's asking about what led _up_ to that night. As he puts it, it doesn't take a genius to see that Uzumaki is treated differently by this town. I tried to give him the runaround, but I think that might have made it worse."

Inoichi ran a hand through his hair, sighing. "Well, isn't this just wonderful. What has he been asking, specifically?"

Shikaku eyed his brandy as he replied. "At first, it was pretty routine, for him anyway. He was trying to figure out some of Uzumaki's early history, where he came from, that kind of thing. Then, two months ago, he came in asking me about telepathy."

Inoichi's eyebrows rose slightly. "Telepathy? I had heard the rumors, but I didn't think that they were that accurate."

Shikaku sipped his drink before responding.

"Yeah, well, there not as accurate as you would think. That was just the beginning. A week or so later, he started asking about Itatchi and the whole Uchiha fiasco. I think I kept him running in circles for a little while, but when he came to me asking about eleven years ago I thought my heart was gonna stop right then."

Inoichi dropped his tumbler this time. "He asked about eleven years ago? What the hell did you tell him?"

Shikaku downed the rest of his tumbler. "I told him to lay off this one. In hindsight, that was probably the worst thing I could have said, but he's already toeing some S-class secrets. Your girl hasn't been asking anything out of the ordinary lately, has she?"

Inoichi shook his head as he processed Shikaku's last statement. "No, nothing that I wasn't anticipating, anyway. She's on another one of her pet projects, and all she's been asking me about is the genjutsu phycho-physical effect. What does she have to do with Shika's questions about four and a half years ago?"

Shikaku shook his head. "Just trying to figure out if that crazy kid of mine is in this alone or not. Don't get me wrong, I like nothing better than seeing him working on a team for the first time, but with this particular band, I've had to keep myself expecting anything."

Inoichi shook his head, letting out a slow breath as he did.

"Mitirashi may be a psychological prodigy, but she didn't think this team through very well."

Shikaku shook his head, chuckling lightly as he poured both of them another shot of brandy.

"I think you're wrong there."

Inoichi gave his former teammate an odd look as he accepted the tumbler.

"What do you mean?"

Shikaku continue to chuckle. "Think about it. Shika's already proven that he'll do _anything_ to protect a friend. Hell, they never found four of the bastards, and of the two they _did_ find, only one was able to talk."

Inoichi downed the entire tumbler in one shot. "Not to get off subject," he started. "But what _did_ they do with that last son of a bitch?"

Shikaku's chuckle got darker. A LOT darker.

"Old man Hiruzen gave him to Ibiki, and Ibiki gave him to Mitirashi. On paper, he's in a non-existent cell in a non-existent wing of T&I. Personally, whatever she did to him wasn't near punishment enough."

Inoichi was starting to wish he had something a lot stronger than 170 proof in his office.

"Agreed. I supervised both Naruto's and Chouji's recoveries. I still have nightmares about what they did to those kids. I'm just glad that both they and Shika recovered psychologically."

Shikaku leaned back in his chair. "Yeah, well, unlocking a power that hadn't been seen in more than a hundred years, scoring your first five kills, and seeing two kids near your own age having _that_ done to them would put some strain on a person. Like I said, though, he got over that part."

Inoichi stared at the now-empty bottle. "You think he's out for revenge?"

Shikaku shook his head. "No. I think he's got something else in mind. Something bigger."

Inoichi leaned onto the desk. "I can't tell you what to do, but if it were me, with everything you told me, I'd tell him the truth."

Shikaku stared at the blond. "What?"

"Look at it this way, coming right out and giving him the full truth is far better than him running around, finding half-truths and erroneous prejudices."

"We're still talking about several S-class secrets here, penalty of death and all that."

Inoichi leaned back in his own chair. "True, but I think we can safely say that Shika is going to find out all of this, one way or another. Read him in, and explain all of the risks before you do."

Shikaku rubbed his temples. "You know, there are times that being a parent is just so damn troublesome."

**A/N: First up, some clarifications of terms.**

**p.s. – Time period, Post-Split**

**The Split – A cataclysmic event that changed the face of the world. (Will be important later)**

**Alright, I'm sure that some of you will want to know what exactly happened, both during The Split and four and a half years ago. You're all welcome to guess, but I highly doubt that you'll get it right. I will, however, give an Omake request to whoever gets closest. And, no, the kid in the class is not Neku from the game, he's just a random student I thought up. As always, constructive criticism is welcome, and flames will be added to my now very large nest of ashes. This is S.P., signing off.**


End file.
